Canned steel, attempt #2

Phillip Patton

Phillip Patton

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
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5,382
Hi guys,
Just welded up a billet of canned steel, and thought I'd share the process I used.

A while back I bought some 1095 powder from someone on ebay, and that's what I used as the filler:

1095powder.JPG


That powder is VERY fine. Cool stuff.



Here's a bunch of damascus scraps, all cleaned up:

damascpieces.JPG




To make the "background" more interesting, I mixed some 15n20 bandsaw chips in with the 1095. You can kind of see it here:

powdermix.JPG



Here's the can I used. The first time I tried this (last year), I used mild steel tubing. Which worked fine, but it requires a lot of grinding to get it off. This time, I used 304 stainless tubing, again, from ebay. The idea behind using stainless is that it won't stick to the steel. It worked!

can.JPG



Here it is all ready to go:

weldedshut.JPG




And here it is, after welding, cleaning up and etching:

solid.JPG



Next I'm going to weld a handle on it, and draw it out, probably at a welding heat.
 
This maybe a stupid question, but I am going to ask it anyway. With all the different types of steels used here just how are you going to be able to determine the best Heat Treatment and Temper for it? I like the idea of what you did and it looks great, but just curious on the other. Thanks.
 
Uh oh. That looks mildly wootzish. You're in for it now brother.
 
WadeH said:
This maybe a stupid question, but I am going to ask it anyway. With all the different types of steels used here just how are you going to be able to determine the best Heat Treatment and Temper for it? I like the idea of what you did and it looks great, but just curious on the other. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for Phillip, but in my shop, just about all of the damascus is 1084/15n20. Seeing as how I know what went into the damascus, and it's all the same stuff, HT is a non-issue.

-d
 
WadeH said:
This maybe a stupid question, but I am going to ask it anyway. With all the different types of steels used here just how are you going to be able to determine the best Heat Treatment and Temper for it? I like the idea of what you did and it looks great, but just curious on the other. Thanks.
Click to expand...

What deker said. All the scraps of damascus are shallow hardening, so the heat treat would be about the same. And hopefully the carbon had a chance to even out some....
 
What did you use to weld the ends on the stainless can? I have mig and arc welders but no tig. Can you weld stainles with a mig welder? Thanks
 
That's cool! How bout stupid question #2? The stainless can...it just gets cut off after the whole process? I'm guessing the carbon/stainless won't weld together.

Since I'm lightyears from being at this level, if you're hard-up for ideas with attempt #3...could you try some 1/8 rod of 15n20 or the little shavings that come from the drill-press? That might be a dumb idea if the 15n20 has to be real small/thin...idunno
 
You can weld stainless with a mig. Need some stainless wire compatible with your stainless and some argon for shielding gas.
 
ib2v4u said:
You can weld stainless with a mig. Need some stainless wire compatible with your stainless and some argon for shielding gas.
Click to expand...

And if you don't have that, you can use a mild steel can and line it with used stainless heat treat foil. The HT foil will keep the can from sticking.

-d
 
Yes, great looking stuff! I'm jealous, but as fiddleback pointed out, definitely looks wootzish... better be carefull... :D

-Page
 
Actually for welding a can up or for any stainless that the welds don't need to be stainless you can just use regular wire and sheilding gas that is 75-25 mix of argon and Co2. I have done it many times
 
Looking good, can't wait to see what the bar looks like drawn out. Are you going to acoarding fold it?
 
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